Centre County chief deputy coroner remembered as ‘bright light,’ advocate and teacher
Judy Pleskonko’s sudden death Saturday touched off an outpouring of grief from friends and colleagues who remembered her as a woman who dedicated her life to helping others.
Pleskonko’s expansive health and emergency response career spanned more than three decades.
She was Centre County’s chief deputy coroner and a longtime nurse in Mount Nittany Medical Center’s emergency department. She gave her time to Centre Volunteers in Medicine, served as president of Moshannon Valley EMS’ board of directors and volunteered on service missions.
She was a wife, a mother of two, a grandmother and a sister. Pleskonko and her husband celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary in July.
Pleskonko started at the Centre County coroner’s office in 1997, Coroner Scott Sayers said. She planned to retire at the end of December.
The typically laconic coroner spoke for about 30 minutes Tuesday about the memory of his top lieutenant, remembering her as caring, empathetic and thorough in her work.
Sayers described feeling startled when he received the phone call that informed him about the crash that killed Pleskonko, initially not understanding the severity of her injuries.
His next order of business, he said, was to make the “dreadful” phone call to the others on his staff. Nearly everyone reacted the same — disbelief and shock, Sayers said.
“It’s going to be rough, very rough. I knew her time with the office was very limited, but leaving three months early in a very tragic way is going to be a very difficult and struggling time,” Sayers said Tuesday. “We’ll trust in God to help us through it. He’ll help us carry on and do the best we can. It’s going to be tough without a doubt, especially with it ending so quickly and suddenly without a formal goodbye where you could sit down and relax and have a dinner. It’s all over. It’s done.”
A legacy of fighting for victims of sexual violence
A staunch advocate for victims of sexual violence, Pleskonko led the hospital’s sexual assault nurse examiner program and was instrumental in the development of the Sexual Assault Response Team. Her worked included training others.
Centre Volunteers in Medicine Executive Director Cheryl White described Pleskonko as an “amazing nurse and a wonderful, caring person.”
“She really stood up for anybody who had suffered from domestic violence, rape, anything like that,” White said. “She was the one who felt it was important to have a program in place to treat those victims. She’s the reason they have that. She was just a great person.”
Elizabeth Burger, a biller and denial management specialist at Mount Nittany, said in a statement she grew up watching Pleskonko and her mother — a fellow emergency room nurse — advocate for victims of sexual violence.
“Judy was the one of the kindest women I know. She was always helping others and her community,” Burger said. “... Sending prayers to all of Judy’s family, friends, and co-workers. She will be greatly missed!”
Losing ‘a bright light’
Pleskonko, 69, of Philipsburg, died Saturday when she was struck by a driver on Interstate 99 in Blair County, state police at Hollidaysburg wrote in a crash report.
She was involved in a crash in the southbound lanes, which caused her vehicle to cross into the northbound lanes. She exited her vehicle and attempted to walk back to the southbound lanes but, police wrote, did not see oncoming northbound traffic.
Pleskonko was hit by the driver of a 2016 Nissan Juke. She died at the scene.
Registered nurse Nicki Olson said Pleskonko was one of her closest friends, mentors and “one of my heroes.”
“She was a force. You just wanted to be around her anytime that you could. She was a bright light. When dealing with emergency nursing or with sexual assault, it can be a very negative environment. She brought just such care and love and even humor to such difficult situations. I was just drawn to her, wanted to be around her all the time. She’s such an excellent teacher.”
She later added: “I would love to be half the person that Judy is on my best day that she was on her worst day. She had a very pure, beautiful soul.”
Losing a friend and teacher
Scores of Centre County elected officials, first responders, funeral homes, friends and colleagues remembered Pleskonko in tributes posted on social media, many of which praised her as compassionate, joyful friend and knowledgeable mentor.
Mount Nittany Medical Center Emergency Department Manager Adam Hoover said Pleskonko was his preceptor as his nursing career got underway. Pleskonko, he said, “always treated people the right way.”
“She really loved to teach and that showed. As a new nurse, you need a lot of guidance and she was the perfect person for that,” Hoover said. “She loved to teach. She helped me become the nurse that I am today.”
Dr. Brian Newcomb in a statement said Pleskonko’s death represented a “heartbreaking loss for the Emergency Department and all of Mount Nittany Health.”
“Judy was a highly skilled member of our team for many years, and we will miss her greatly,” Newcomb said. “In addition to being an excellent nurse, she was an outstanding person and friend.”
Pleskonko was born in Ohio. She was an alumna of Penn Cambria High School, Philipsburg State School of Nursing and Penn State. She was also one of the first recipients of the Hero Award given during the Central PA 4th Fest.
Pennsylvania State Coroners Association President Scott Lynn said Pleskonko was always willing to lend a helping hand to the organization.
When she walked into any room, Lynn said, she “always had an aura of just calm and happiness and giving whenever she approached.”
“It’s just extremely upsetting. What a loss of a great servant to the community, to her patients, to her family. There’s an emptiness from her being gone,” Lynn said. “I was at a loss of words when I found out. I just think of her family and friends that have lost so much by losing her. It’s a bit overwhelming.”
A memorial service is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Rowland Theater. A Nightingale tribute is expected to be provided by the Central Pennsylvania Nurses Honor Guard, according to her obituary.
Donations can be made to Moshannon Valley EMS, Centre Foundation (through the Judy Pleskonko Fund) or to the Rowland Theater.
“Whatever she got involved in, her heart was in it. She truly had concerns for the families and the loved ones of people that were deceased that she dealt with. She had great concern for those people that were left behind,” retired Mifflin County Coroner Daniel Lynch said Monday as tears rolled down his face. “She respected everybody. I think the only friend she didn’t have was the person she didn’t meet yet. She spent her life trying to make other people’s lives better.”
